


The best hot leaf juice in Ba Sing Se

by KinkySnake



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Ba Sing Se, Fluff, M/M, Tea Server Zuko (Avatar), earthkingdom citizen jee, non-bender jee
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:28:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27687613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KinkySnake/pseuds/KinkySnake
Summary: Jee was born in the Earth Kingdom and served in the military for nearly fifteen years. Discharged for injury, he ends up in Ba Sing Se. He meets a young tea server, who doesn't seem happy to be here. He gradually falls for Lee, who has many secrets.
Relationships: Jee/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	1. Jasmine tea

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a short fluffy fic about our lieutenant and his bratty prince.  
> Jee is not a bender and he's not fire nation. Zuko is still himself.  
> I really tried to keep this account for kinky fics but Zuko is too fun to play with.  
> I have some ideas, but every time I try to write a pwp, I end up with adding something else in it !

Jee wipes his forehead with a sleeve and lets himself drop in a chair. His back is killing him again. The day is not over and he still has a lot of work to do. He briefly massages his left shoulder before drinking a glass of water. It’s not even fresh. He groans.

“Are you done?” Anke asks, their round face peeking out the door.

“Almost.” 

Anke takes in the mess in the kitchen and frowns, but they say nothing. He exhales and gets up. When he ended up in Ba Sing Se, he had no one. Anke was kind enough to give him work, even if there were days when he couldn’t get out of bed because of the pain. The joiner was looking for someone and when Jee explained how he got his leg injury, Anke dropped their head and told him that their brother had also served in the military. He had never asked, but according to their reaction, he obviously hadn’t come back.

Jee served almost fifteen years on a ship. He’s not a bender, but he knows his way with engines and sailors. He was a lieutenant and sometimes, he misses it. Not the war, because no one misses that, but he misses his shipmates. He misses the sea, the wind. He feels trapped in Ba Sing Se, with the two walls sealing the city. But they’re safe here, and he can’t fight anymore.

He learned to work with wood. Anke showed him how to build furniture from scraps. They did this all their life and they’re proud of their job. Jee learned to like it too. He enjoys the manual work, how objects take form between his hands. He never thought he had soft hands before, but they became rough, calloused and he always sports some scratches, because as Anke likes to say, he’s a clumsy old fart. He’s not that old, really. But sometimes he feels like he is twice his age.

He doesn’t talk of the war. No one does. There is no war in Ba Sing Se. He tries not to think about it, but his nightmares don’t stop. It’s hard to forget. He saw and did his fair share of things he never wants to talk about anymore. It seems another life, even if it also seems like yesterday. He just wants to move on.

“Lili asked for you.” Their tone is light, but he can hear the laugh in it.

“Did she?” He mumbles.

“You could give her a chance. Unless you like Meiko better.”

“Shut up.” He blushes this time.

Lili is an old woman, who bought them a table. She’s cheeky and likes to flirt with him. To his surprise, he’s popular. Meiko is a shy girl – she’s maybe twenty or something, he doesn’t know, but even then, he’s about twice his age he thinks – who works at the baker’s shop. He’s weak for their fruit bread. She’s pretty, at least to him. He never really talked to her but she seems kind. Meiko is not the only one who has expressed interest in him. He doesn’t understand what they see in him.

Dating has never been a priority in his life, though he regrets it sometimes. It would be nice to have someone at his sides. There was never time when he was in the military. He had a few encounters, but nothing serious, because he never stayed anywhere long enough. Now he’s in Ba Sing Se, he has the possibility to build the life he wants. But he’s been here for seven years and he can’t pretend he did anything to go on this road. As much as he misses his crew, he likes the quiet and solitary life he has now. Besides, he feels too old, too displaced. He wouldn’t know how to begin.

He tried it once. It didn’t last, but it was nice. Makko lives in the middle ring now. He knows she got married. He hopes she’s happy.

Maybe Anke is right. He’s been alone too long and if he keeps postponing, he’s gonna be too old for real.

“She’s young.”

“So?”

He doesn’t have an answer. He resumes his work on the bookshelf he’s supposed to deliver tomorrow. He cuts himself again.

The weather is getting cold. Winter is gonna be a pain again, with his leg and back. He limps when it’s too cold, and he hates it, because he can’t walk as fast as he likes. He stops before a tea shop. He’s not particularly fond of tea, but his clients have been gushing about the place since a few weeks, claiming Pao had found a tea genius. Jee doesn’t understand how one can be a genius when it comes to tea, because it’s only leaves in hot water, but he’s cold and he’s curious. Having new people is good too.

He sits at a table, watching the patrons hold steaming cups. He remembers he came here with his neighbour once, but it was already a few years ago. He could still recognize Pao though.

“Welcome to the Pao family tea house, what can I get you?”

The boy is polite, but his tone is clearly showing a lack of enthusiasm. More accurately, he sounds like he would like to be anywhere but here. He has short black hair, eyes nearly golden and an impressive burn on his face. Jee tries not to stare.

“Huh…What’s the most basic thing?”

“If you don’t know what to drink, I’d go for the jasmine tea.” The boy shrugs. He’s clearly trying to be patient, but his frown is telling Jee not to waste his time.

“I’ll take that then.”

The boy abruptly turns on his heels. He watches him get away. He wonders who he is. He has never seen before, and he guesses he’s the nephew of the new tea maker. Or is it his son? He didn’t really paid attention to Ijah’s rambling. Besides, sometimes the old merchant mixes things up.

There’s an old man with grey hair who’s serving patrons and joking with them. He must be the tea genius then. He wonders where they came from. If they too, have been victims of an attack from Fire nation soldiers, like a lot of people here. Refugees are more and more numerous and it makes Jee angry, itching to get back to the front. But he can’t. He’s also a kind of refugee. When he was discharged, there was nothing left of his village.

A bang startles him. The tea boy is not delicate. He doesn’t even have the time to thank him. He sniffs his cup then blows on it. It smells good.

“Pardon my nephew, he’s in a bad mood. I’ve never seen you here before. I’m Mushi.”

“Jee. I heard you make a freakishly good tea, so I came to see for myself.”

The old man’s smile gets wider and he tells him to enjoy his tea before leaving. Jee observes him. It’s amazing how the pair is different. The nephew is scowling and quiet, while the uncle is loud and cheerful. He catches Mushi elbowing his nephew in his back and the boy stops frowning. They’re surely refugees too. It would explain the boy’s attitude. He looks young and Jee can understand it’s hard to be here for this kind of reasons. He wonders how he got his scar, but it would be very surprising if it hadn’t been made by a firebender. So they certainly ran away.

When his tea has cooled down enough, he takes a sip. It’s good, but maybe his tastes are not subtle enough to appreciate the exploit. He can’t help watching Mushi and his nephew. They’re funny.

“What do you think of it?” Mushi comes to ask.

“It’s…good.” He doesn’t really know to say. “Sorry, I may be missing something there.”

“Don’t worry. Even if you can’t feel it, tea is good for the soul.”

The nephew turns his head and rolls his eyes at his uncle.

“I suppose so. I always thought it was weird to drink hot leaf juice, but …”

He’s interrupted by a bursting laugh.

“See uncle, I’m not the only one to think that!” The boy is laughing in earnest and his face has nothing of the gloom he was displaying earlier.

“You’re breaking my heart, Lee.” Mushi says, shaking his head and going to take another order.

Jee exchanges a conspiratorial look with Lee, who seemed to have shaken up his defeated attitude. He jumps on it.

“When did you move here?”

“Three weeks ago.”

“I come from the Ushu territories, what about you?”

Lee’s smile drops and his answer is bit strained.

“We travelled a lot.”

“I’m sorry.” Jee quickly says. “It’s none of my business.”

Lee throws him a wary look but he doesn’t seem offended. He doesn’t want to imagine what that boy went through. If he’s travelling with his uncle, it means he doesn’t have his parents anymore. He can’t be more than twenty, so maybe he wasn’t a soldier, but he has obviously been in a fight. Given the horrifying burn, it’s already a miracle he survived.

Jee has encountered enough firebenders for his whole life. He saw what they can do. He nearly got burned himself, but has always managed to come out of the fights in one piece. When he was younger, he was bitter for not being able to do any earthbending. But he quickly changed his mind when the Fire nation took the few ones who lived near their village. With bare hands or with a sword, he was pretty good at fighting. But facing a firebender was not fighting. It was one-sided. He’s glad to be in Ba Sing Se, because there aren’t any firebenders. There’s no Fire nation citizens either. There’s nothing to remind him the war and he likes it like that.

When he goes to the counter to pay for his tea, he faces Lee again. He smiles to him, hoping to cheer him up at least a bit.

“If you and your uncle need any furniture, don’t hesitate to come to Anke’s shop.”

Lee is scrunching up his nose but nods.

When Jee is home, he’s struck by the silence. Anke is right. He feels lonely. Maybe he should ask Meiko out after all. He takes a hot shower, hoping to relax his muscles. His leg is giving him a rest it seems, so he’s grateful for that. He can still hear the explosion of the boiler. They were stuck inside the ship and a firebender had made the boiler overheat. It had exploded and a piece of metal had sunk into his thigh. He hadn’t felt the pain at first. They had crawled out of the room and by chance, another ship of theirs had came to their rescue. He couldn’t hear correctly for days after that. He remembers the heat he had felt, the terror. He had thought they were going to die here. Some of them did. He nearly lost the leg, but by some miracle, there was a waterbender healer among the rescuing crew. It hadn’t healed everything, but he has kept the leg and he could walk. The chronic pains would never go away, but he had survived. Leaving the navy was like losing his home. So he tried to go back to his first one. The village had been deserted, and was in ruins. When he asked, he was told that there had been too many raids from the Fire nation.

He looked for work further. Many people told him to go to Ba Sing Se and he took his chance. They were right. He had a good life here. And it could even get better. Putting his bowl of noodles away, he took the decision to be open to new relationships. Even if it wasn’t Meiko, he could find a nice woman to date.

He stroked his beard in a self-conscious gesture. Maybe he should shave.


	2. Ginseng tea

Jee is whistling, razor in hand. He’s in a good mood today and he feels light. He hasn’t got any pain and all this thinking about his life left him with an optimistic strike. He shaves the last patch of hair and rinses, looking at himself in the mirror. He looks younger like that. Stroking the smooth skin, he tries to recall when he had a full shave for the last time. He can’t really tell. It’s weird, but he kinda likes it. He points at himself in the mirror.

“You’re gonna stop hiding in your lair and get a girlfriend, old man ! You deserve some good time.”

He can hear Anke talking in his voice. They’re gonna be thrilled to know he has finally decided to listen to their advice.

When he closes his door, there’s a small black cat that mewls at him. He pets it, wondering if it lives outside. Anyway, he decides to take that as a good sign. The cat is rubbing against his hand, purring. Maybe it got lost.

“Sorry little guy, I have to go.”

He waves to people he knows on the way, taking the time to chat with some of them. Suhli is an old woman who likes to act as if she was his mother and he lets her, because there’s no harm and it makes her happy. He helps her with her garden sometimes, removing the weeds while she bakes an apple pie. Her pies are delicious and she’s always happy to share.

“You shaved !” She exclaims. “What a handsome young man!”

He doesn’t know what to say, he never took well to compliments. He scratches his neck, embarrassed.

“I thought it was time for a change, you know ?”

She smiles.

“You look like my son like that !”

And that’s some compliment, because she adores her son, who lives not very far from here with his wife and children. Jee already met him and he’s a funny man with a booming laughter. He sucks at gardening though.

“Don’t go and break hearts, lieutenant !”

He waves, ducking is head. A lot of people like to call him lieutenant. He tried to change that, but it sticks to him and in the end, it’s such a part of himself that he thinks he would feel lost without it. He responds to his title like he does to his name. When he was discharged, he was so bitter that he didn’t want to hear it, but he quickly changed his mind.

Anke is in a bad mood when he comes in. There was delay in the delivery of wood and they risk to be late for several deliveries. They’re smoking nervously cigarette after cigarette, pestering under their breath. Jee finishes his bookshelf, knowing not to bother them when they’re like that.

When he goes to deliver his work, he recognizes the tea server in an alley. He has a gloomy look, shoulders tense and rounded.

“Hey Lee ! How is your uncle?”

The kid frowns, obviously bothered by the interruption.

“He’s fine, thank you.”

“You’re not working today?”

“Commission.” He doesn’t elaborate, despite Jee’s insistent look.

“I see. Maybe I’ll swing by later.”

The narrowing eyes tells him he’s not welcome, but he still says the contrary. Jee should maybe feel bad but he enjoys trying to get something out if the boy. He doesn’t look like a bad kid. But he seems lost. Jee wants to help, even if he doesn’t really know why.

The client is satisfied and even offers him a cup of tea. He manages to decline politely. He’s not a fan of the beverage, but he has already planned to go to Pao’s. Mushi intrigues him too. He looks like a perfectly ordinary man, but there’s a spark in his eyes that says otherwise. Or maybe Jee sees his old mentor in him. He thinks they wouldn’t have gotten along, because he hated tea.

Pao’s is nearly desert when he pops in. Mushi looks delighted to see him, Lee scowls at him and escapes to the back of the shop.

“You’re military, I heard, lieutenant Jee ?” The old man says while cleaning his table.

“That was some time ago. But yeah, I spent half of my life in the Navy. What about you?”

“It was another life, when I was a different man.” He seems far away suddenly and Jee has seen enough of people broken by the war to recognize the look. He doesn’t particularly like to talk about it either.

“Life in Ba Sing Se is something else, right? I had forgotten thing could be so quiet.”

“I sure appreciate it ! I never thought I could do something like working in a tea shop. Passion always finds a way !”

“Your nephew doesn’t seem to share your enthusiasm.”

Lee is angrily serving tea at a table nearby and Mushi sighs.

“His life changed a lot recently. It’s not easy for him I’m afraid.”

Lee thows them a look, as if he had heard that they were talking about them. He narrows his eyes, making the scarred one looks like a slit. It’s hard to see such an injury on a young man.

“He has you at least.”

Mushi has a fond smile. He ends up taking a ginseng tea, because the man tells him it’s his favourite. Jee is feeling adventurous anyway. It’s Lee who brings him his cup. The boy sends him a dubious look.

“You came back already?”

“Tea is growing on me I guess.”

He doesn’t say that he feels a connection with Mushi and him. It would be weird and he can’t really explain it. Maybe because Mushi was also in the military. He feels a sort of kinship with the man. As for the boy, he’s intrigued. There’s so much anger in him he can almost taste it. He saw young people like him in the Navy. Too young, already scarred by the war and angry at the whole world, always looking for a fight. He saw some of them break, losing themselves in resentment and pain. He doesn’t want to see it again. He failed a lot of his subordinates, like Fu, and he guesses he wants to redeem himself in a way, even if Lee is neither Fu nor any other young sailor. He would probably be appalled at being seen as a pet project. But is there something wrong in giving him a smile from times to times ? He can act at his own scale, pave the way. He wouldn’t have made it after his discharge if he hadn’t had people helping him in that way. Sometimes, it’s only a matter of a little nudge in the right direction.

Lee snorts and goes to another table. Jee blows on his tea, hoping he will like it. He’s a coffee man, always has been. He hates beginning a new day without a cup – how many sailors got shouted at before the first cup ? They learned to make coffee and give him a cup first thing in the morning, the little rascals. He drank too much of course. Telling himself he had to stay awake and sharp. He lost hours of sleep like that. He stopped after his discharge. Maybe it’s time to find a new poison and tea might be the answer.

The ginseng tea is not bad. Mushi raises an eyebrow from the other side of the room and he smiles, nodding and raising his cup. He doesn’t get why one would get excited about tea, but he may have been a bit harsh. He could get used to it.

When he comes home, the cat is still here, mewing at him. He scratches his head, hesitating, but he already knows he’s gonna yield. He sighs, opening the door and letting the ball of fur enter.

“Don’t you dare scratch my things.” He grumbles.

But the cat mostly looks malnourished and slow. He has to rummage through his kitchen to find something cat-edible. It looks happy, eating with a waving tail. Jee stares at the cat, wondering if he did a mistake. But well, he’s alone and he actually likes cats. His leg is slightly hurting, so he flops down on his couch before it can get worse.

When he wakes up, he’s aware of two things. One, the cat is scratching his head, mewing in his ears. Two, he can barely move, pain radiating from his leg and pulsing in his lower back. He grunts, trying to push away the animal. It doesn’t work.

“Can’t you hunt or something? You’re supposed to, you know?”

He crawls out of bed when the scratching becomes painful, panting and leaning on the walls and furniture. The evil creature doesn’t seem to understand his pain, rubbing against his legs and nearly making him trip. He feeds it, pouring some fresh water in a bowl. He opens his back door, which opens a small courtyard.

“Do what you want, I’m not going out today.”

He gets back in bed, taking the phone to call Anke.

“Take care, old man.” They say. Their bad mood got better it seems. “Should I call Meiko?”

“Shut up, you jerk !” He manages to laugh, but a wave of pain makes him grunt again.

He’s used to it, but it never gets better. He keeps painkillers in his nightstand with a bottle of water, but he hates how they make him sleep for hours. He takes them though, because he doesn’t feel like hurting and thinking about his life.

He always thinks about his past when he’s like that. The face of his parents come to the surface, and he can’t even tell if he remembers their features or if his brain filled the blank. He does remember them but somehow, he always feels bad for not being sure of what they look like. His father is even more blurred, as he left to fight years before his mother died from illness. When his leg hurts like that, the loneliness he felt back then comes back. Alone, in the house that used to be their home, with no one left but him. He wasn’t of age when he enlisted. But he looked older and he was determined. He launched himself in the war with rage in his belly and a void to fill. Sometimes he thinks he did. He found friendship and a purpose. But what does he have now ?

He should be happy. He has a new life, away from the atrocities of war, a job he likes with a great boss. Sure, he’s been injured, but he can’t say he was in a better place before. The thing is, the war is still on. No one talks about it here, but Jee knows. Sometimes he doubts. It’s been seven years after all, who knows ? Maybe the war is over. But the refugees keep on coming and Jee knows it’s only wishful thinking. It’s hard, not being there, not knowing what’s happening, trying to let all of this behind him. He did his part. That’s what his crew told him, patting his back and teasing him about the limp. He doesn’t think he could make a difference. But still, he’s here while his crew – what’s left of it, and he tries not to think too much about that – is still out there, fighting.

He feels displaced. Like he shouldn’t be here. But he is and he wants to try. He would like to live a normal life, even if he forgot what it was like. War struck his village when he was young and he can’t remember a time without the menace of the Fire Nation. He wants to forget. He doesn’t want to forget.

He ruffles his pillow. He’s already drowsing and the thoughts are slipping away, the bad memories and the constant anxiety. One thing he can’t deny is that he never had a bed so comfortable in all his years of service.


End file.
